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According to an RJC auditor, providers only need to promise that they carry out strong civils rights due diligence, however do not offer any kind of proof for this. Neither does the Code of Practices require jewelersor other downstream companiesto have traceability or chain of custodianship of their gold or rubies. The Code of Practices is also weak in other substantive areas, for instance, on indigenous peoples' rights and on resettlement.

In March 2017, the RJC had 342 participants who had not (yet) completed the audit process that certifies compliance with the Code of Practices. On top of that, companies can join at any level of their operations. For instance, a tiny subsidiary workplace of a huge jewelry business might request RJC membership, without including the remainder of the business's entities.

Finally, the Code of Practices does not call for companies to openly report on the concrete actions they have actually taken to carry out due diligencea core demand of the OECD Support. Its reporting obligations are obscure and do not mention due persistance or the requirement for companies to report on the steps they have actually required to identify, examine, and alleviate threats in their supply chains

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A 2nd RJC standard, the Chain-of-Custody Requirement, promotes traceability and is more rigorous, however adherence to it is optional for RJC participants. By early 2018, just 48 of over 1,000 participant companies had actually certified entities under the criterion, including 13 jewelers. The Chain-of-Custody Criterion needs firms to establish documentary proof of business purchases along the supply chain and to confirm they are not triggering adverse impacts in conflict-affected and high-risk areas.

Rather, companies are enabled to select some "entities" under their control for accreditation, leaving various other entities of a company uncertified. While this might enable companies to gradually switch to more responsible sourcing methods, the current practice likewise brings the threat that an entire firm delights in the reputational advantage when the bulk of procedures is not in conformity with the standard.

All RJC member companies have to undergo an audit to demonstrate that they are compliant with the Code of Practices, and to get accreditation. Those companies that choose to acquire accreditation for the Chain-of-Custody Requirement need to undergo a separate audit. Audits are based primarily on a review of the business's created plans and documents, and brows through to a "representative set" of facilities.

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It is not an in-depth evaluation regarding whether the firm in fact implements or complies with its policies throughout its operations. For instance, huge firms may have operations in numerous countries, and count on several distributors, yet still might get RJC accreditation based on check outs to just a couple of centers under its straight control with no examination of numerous others.

Although audits are expected to include questions on a wide variety of civils rights, auditors are not constantly qualified human rights experts. As soon as the auditors complete their record, they only send a summary record of the audit to the RJC, not the complete audit record, which is shared only with the company



While labor abuses prevail in the industry, artisanal mines offer income for countless workers and thousands of mining neighborhoods. Civil rights Watch believes that the precious jewelry industry ought to aim to ensure that their initiatives to mitigate supply chain human rights risks do not lead them to simply exclude all artisanal distributors from their link supply chains as the "course of the very least resistance." Rather, they ought to sustain efforts to define and professionalize artisanal mines and boost functioning conditions.

The OECD Fee Diligence Assistance recognizes this and is promoting cost-sharing within the sector. In this way, all business along the supply chain share the economic worry. A variety of efforts have arised that can assist jewelers map their gold and diamonds to mines of origin, and extra responsibly source from the artisanal sector.

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Concerning 600 adult miners have been registered at six mine sites; children can not register. Certification of details mines against accountable sourcing requirements can supply jewelry experts with better assurance that the gold or diamonds they buy from those mines are not tainted by civils rights misuses. Nongovernmental companies such as Solidaridad and influence can play a crucial function in supporting mines to enhance practices so they are able to conform with the criterion; this may consist of steps to deal with kid labor, improve ecological conduct, access finance, and establish direct contact with customers.

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Two standardscertify artisanal and small golden goose that adapt civils rights, labor rights, and ecological standardsthe Fairmined Criterion and the Fairtrade Gold Criterion. Both call for third-party audits of specific mines. The Fairmined Criterion was presented by the Alliance for Responsible Mining (ARM) in 2014. Relying on the client's license with Fairmined, the gold might be fully traceable to the mine of beginning, or may be combined with various other gold.


This quantity is simply a small fraction of the gold used each year by several of the firms analyzed in this report. As of very early 2018, 8 mines in 4 countries (Bolivia, Colombia, Mongolia, and Peru) were accredited, with an added 20 mining companies functioning towards accreditation. The Fairmined Gold Criterion is currently creating a brand-new "market entrance" standard that looks for to aid artisanal golden goose while doing so towards complete accreditation.

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It is carried out under the umbrella of Fairtrade International, and permits jewelry experts to map their gold back completely to the mine of origin. Fairtrade's first qualified mines were in Peru. Over the last couple of years, the Fairtrade Foundation, Solidaridad, and other NGOs carried out a program of training and support to artisanal and small-scale gold miners in Africa, and in very early 2017, licensed an artisanal gold mine in Uganda.

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